Haunted
by l3utterflyEffect
Summary: Mabel Pines is sent off to Gravity Falls by her parents, in hopes that her Great-Uncle Stan can help her cope with her brother's death. It did help, just not in the way anyone expected- especially not Mabel. She used to think ghosts weren't real, but, well... clearly that was wrong. Not that it was a bad thing in this instance. (Rewrite of the old Haunted fic. AO3 uploads earlier.)
1. Chapter 1

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* * *

She looked out the window.

She didn't know what Gravity Falls was like. She didn't even know her great-uncle Stan.

She just knew what her mom said— it was a perfectly normal town, and small enough that they could walk from place to place, mostly.

"Do you have everything?" Her dad asked.

Mabel nodded, holding onto her bags tightly.

She hadn't been on a bus since… since the incident. Maybe she'd be fine.

But maybe it wouldn't. Maybe the bus driver would fall asleep, maybe they'd—

She gasped as the car jerked to a stop, and she braced herself for the impact of glass, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Hey, honey, it's okay… We didn't crash."

She opened her eyes again, sucking in a shaky breath as she opened the door, quickly stumbling out.

It wasn't going to be an easy ride, was it?

She sat down on the bench, rubbing her tired eyes.

She should have slept.

* * *

She heard a terrible screeching, and felt her head hit against something.  
It felt like shards of glass were digging into her skin, and… when she opened her eyes, they were.

"Mabel, is Mason okay?!" She heard her mom shout.

She grimaced, craning her aching neck to look to her brother.

She almost wished she hadn't.

Bloodied shards of glass and wood poked out from his skin, and blood poured from his head. His eyes were shut tight, and she didn't dare try to move him, in case it made him worse.

"Mom, he— he's bleeding really bad… What do I do?"

"Don't try and pull any glass out yet— I'm calling 911."

She knew her mother was a nurse. She knew what to do, what order to do it in, but Mabel couldn't help but feel a pit in her stomach as she looked at her bleeding brother.

"Mabel?"

She turned, and saw her brother, but… he looked different. He was glowing an ethereal blue, and he was… floating.

She shut her eyes tight, covering her ears. It wasn't real. She wasn't here. "It's just a dream, it's just a dream, it's just a dream…" She gasped.

_"Mabel—!"_

She opened her eyes, gasping.

"Gravity Falls!"

She glanced out the window, and saw that they'd arrived at the bus stop. A haphazardly parked car waited on the other side of the road, and an old man— supposedly great-uncle Stan— waited at the stop.

Mabel grabbed her suitcases with a sigh, pulling herself onto wobbly feet.

She didn't notice the faint outline of a person following her in the reflection of the windows.


	2. Chapter 2

Although the bus drive over hadn't been a pleasant experience, Gravity Falls was, well… It was rather nice, if a bit mediocre.

Well, okay. Maybe 'mediocre' wasn't exactly the right word, considering some of the things that had happened, from the bug bites spelling out very confusing words ('deod isbt gone'?), to whatever the heck was living under her bed (it likes candy bars, apparently, because that's all it will eat), to the townsfolk behaving strangely/stupidly. (once, she saw someone run into the same wall five times straight!)

Aside from that, though, not much seemed to actually happen there.

Maybe some people thought that was nice. For Mabel, it was. Up until a point.

"Hey, kiddo?"

She looked up from her blank sketchbook, blinking as she looked at her Grunkle. "Yeah?"

"Can ya check out in the woods? Wendy hasn't come back for a while, and—"

She jumped up to her feet at the opportunity to actually do something rather than just staring at an empty page. "Of course!" She chirped, not letting her Grunkle get another word in. "I'll be back before dark, don't worry!"

She hurried through the door, not even pausing to take off her sweater and wrap it around her waist as she ran into the woods, determined to make good on her probably unfulfillable promise.

* * *

As Mabel had predicted, by the time she found Wendy taking a nap against a tree, the sun had already begun to set.

Sighing, she kneeled down, poking Wendy.

Wendy lazily opened an eye before looking over, blinking. "Mabel? Oh, man, it's getting dark out already?" She asked, looking around as she pulled herself up to her feet. "I just meant to take a quick nap."

"You only had a few signs left, though…" Mabel said, looking to the pile of maybe 7 signs. "Well, we're out here anyways, so might as well finish up."

"You sure? I can do it myself." Wendy said, shrugging.

"I'll be perfectly fine." Mabel said, grabbing a nail, a sign, and the hammer, and going over to a tree. "I mean, it's not like we're gonna have to put a nail through meta—"

Her train of thought was cut off as soon as she tried to hammer in the nail, as a metallic clang sounded through the air. She looked to the nail, and saw that, rather than going through the 'wood', it had bent.

"What?" Was all that she managed to say.

"Hold on, move over," Wendy said, and Mabel moved away from the tree as Wendy drew her axe, raking it against the tree.

Mabel winced, covering her ears as the screech of metal-against-metal resounded through the forest.

Wendy put the axe back in the holster, leaning down to the mark she'd made. "Yep, that is not wood. Who makes a metal tree, though?"

Mabel shrugged, and her attention was drawn by an imperfection in the relatively level metal. She silently placed a bet on a secret panel being inside, before banging her arm against it.

And, of course, it swung open to reveal a secret cubby with a strange machine inside.

"Are we in some, like, weird movie? Because this definitely seems like we're in a horror movie setup or something." Wendy said, leaning over Mabel to look inside.

"Yeah, my bet's on this being some weird prank," Mabel replied, flicking the buttons.

"Yeah, that would explain a lot, wouldn't it?"

There was a moment of relative silence as Mabel flicked the switches.

A quiet 'click' sounded through the forest, and the humming of machinery sounded behind them. They turned, only to see the spot where Gompers had been peacefully grazing had opened up into a small hole, startling the poor goat.

They both walked over, and Wendy pulled out the book that had been contained within it, blowing the dust off of its cover. Though it was just barely illumined enough, Mabel could see there was a six-fingered hand with the number 3 scrawled on.

"What the ffffffrick?" Wendy breathed.

Opening it and flipping through, Wendy put it on the ground.

They both stared at the pages for a moment, before Wendy shook her head. "It's too dark to read it."

"Yeah… let's go back, I promised Grunkle Stan I would be back before the sun set, anyways."

"Oh. Well, if we're still trying to do that, then we're gonna have to cut it close."

Mabel flashed a brace-filled grin at Wendy, before bolting off. "Race you there!"

"Oh, you're on!"


	3. Chapter 3

Mabel barreled into the Shack, tripping and tumbling across the floor. She lay there for a moment, panting, before lifting her arms victoriously. "I won!"

Stan looked at her in confusion, before shrugging, going back to counting the money he'd made.

Wendy jogged in through the door, and although she was breathing a bit heavily, she didn't seem to be even near half as winded as Mabel was. "How are you so fast?" She asked, before noticing Mabel was collapsed on the floor. "Uh, you okay?"

"Yep! I'm good." Mabel said, sitting up. "Okay, let's go upstairs and see what's in the book!"

"What book?" Stan interrupted.

They both looked over to Stan, blinking.

"Let a girl have her secrets, Grunkle Stan." Mabel said, winking as she held the journal behind her back.

Stan looked around in confusion. "Uh. Okay," He said after a moment.

Mabel grinned at Wendy, and they both began to walk off.

"Oh, by the way, Wendy? You're doing double the work tomorrow."

Wendy shrugged, rolling her eyes, and none of them needed to hear her thoughts, because they all knew full well that Wendy still was going to slack off for most of it.

"Anyways. Book." Mabel clapped her hands together, before bolting off into the living room. "C'mon! I'm gonna die of curiosity!"

Mabel ran upstairs and plowed through the attic door, hopping onto the floor as Wendy kneeled down next to her.

She opened up the journal..

The only thing of note on the first page was the note that stated its owner— it had been torn away, the 'property of' being the only remain.

Mabel flipped over the page, and began to read aloud. "'It's hard to believe it's been six years since I began researching the strange and wondrous secrets of Gravity Falls, Oregon. In all my research, never have I observed so many curious things! Gravity Falls is indeed a geographical oddity.'Frowning, she quickly skimmed over the rest of the page, and when she didn't find anything of interest, flipped the page—

Only to be greeted by sketches of floating eyeballs and giant bats.

"Dude, what?" Wendy gasped. "I saw a floating eyeball last week, but I thought it was just a hallucination!"

"Okay, so…" Mabel blew her hair out of her face as she thumbed through the other pages. "This is either a super elaborate prank, or it's real."

Mabel continued to look through the journal, only stopping to make comments about things like the 'hawktopus' ("'Too stupid to study?' I think a hawktopus would be cool! Especially if you could ride it!") and the plaidypus. ("Wendy. Don't make me get those truth-telling teeth, there is no way you've seen something more adorable than that.")

But after the page which contained what they both agreed could only be described as 'a weird and kind of ominous drawing of something' (though they weren't sure exactly sure what it was) the pages began to grow more frantically scribbled, more strange and paranoid, and bloodier…

Until they just stopped altogether.

"What? They just stopped?" Wendy said.

"Did he get killed by the mafia?" Mabel asked, looking

"Uh, I don't know. Flip back. Maybe there's something on the other pages?"

Mabel did so, and was greeted by a page splattered with old, darkened blood and messy cursive

"'Unfortunately, my suspicions have been confirmed, I'm being… watched'?" Wendy stared at the book in confusion.

"'I must hide this book before He finds it.'" Mabel continued. "'Remember— in Gravity Falls, there is no one you can trust…'"

"So. Mafia."

"Yeah, there's definitely a hidden mafia in this town," Mabel said, flipping back through the pages again.

"But do you think, like, the weird supernatural stuff is real? Or do you think this is just some crazy paranoid dude who may have been murdered?"

Mabel leafed back through the pages, pausing on a page with what looked to be a summoning ritual, along with pictures of… well, something.

**Ghosts and specters appear to be completely separate entities. The creatures I previously called 'ghosts' seem to be malicious entities I mistook for the souls of the dead. For the sake of consistency, however, I will be calling a proper ghost a 'specter' instead.**

**With a little help from some of the townsfolk, I have figured out how to do a real seance. The instructions are as follows…**

She hesitated to ask, looking back at Wendy, but Wendy just grinned. "I like what you're thinking."


	4. Chapter 4

Mabel was holding a snow globe, humming as she put it onto the shelf.

She was certainly working, but her mind was elsewhere, thinking about the séance. In fact, she'd been thinking about it the whole day. She was even wearing her favorite sweater for it— a navy blue one with a little felt ghost and the word 'boo!' stitched on.

She also couldn't help but think about just who she was going to meet.

Maybe it was stupid, maybe she should be over it, but she was sort of hoping that Dipper would be there too.

Wendy's alarm went off, and Mabel dropped the snow globe she'd been holding onto the floor with a gasp.

"Ghost time!" They both exclaimed. Wendy hopped over the counter, running to the door as Mabel pulled her hair back into a ponytail, abandoning the shards of glass that had once been a piece of merchandise.

"Hold on you two."

Mabel and Wendy screeched to a halt, looking back at Stan.

"Okay, first of all, Mabel, pumpkin, could you please clean up that glass?"

"Sorry!" She said, quickly snatching the dustpan and broom from a confused Soos and beginning to sweep up the glass.

"Second of all, where are you two running off to?" Stan continued. "Wendy, I told you that you were working overtime."

"But Mr. Pines, Mabel and I had plans!"

"No. You're working."

Mabel, realizing that Wendy wasn't going to be able to get out of trouble on her own, walked over to the counter and looked up at her Grunkle with her world-famous Mabel Puppy Dog Eyes. "Pleeeaase?" She begged. "You wouldn't let your favorite niece's plans go to waste, would you?"

Stan stared at her for a few moments, blinking, before looking away. "Nyeh, _fine_. I'm taking money out of your paycheck though, Wendy," He said, though Mabel knew he was just saying that.

"OkayThanksGrunkleStanWe'reGonnaGoNowBye!"

"Kid, wait, ya still have to—" Stan trailed off as they ran out the door, slamming it shut.

He looked to the glass shards still on the floor, and Soos standing there, staring at the abandoned dustpan.

"That kid's gonna be the death of me," He grunted, before sighing. "Soos, could you clean that up?"

"Yes sir, Mr. Pines!"

* * *

"Nice work getting Stan off our backs there, Mabes," Wendy chuckled, punching her lightly in the shoulder.

She grinned proudly at the praise, giggling a little. "It's a skill that comes with being the niece of an expert criminal."

"Hah, fair enough," Wendy chuckled. "Anyway, you ready to set off?"

"Yep!" She exclaimed, before tensing a little. "Wait, we're not going in a car, are we?"

"Yes, I'm going to traumatize you," Wendy deadpanned, rolling her eyes. "But seriously, I wouldn't do that to you. Are you good with bikes? If not, we can walk, it's not _that_ far."

"No, yeah, bikes are cool as long as we're not going on a busy street."

"Alright, cool," Wendy said, walking to the bike parking and walking her bike over. "I'm not sure if I already told you, but invited my friends." She said, tossing a helmet to Mabel as she put her own helmet on.

"That's fine! The more, the merrier!" Mabel chirped, buckling her helmet. "Let's get going!"

* * *

As they approached the convenience store, they were greeted by a sign that declared rather bluntly that trespassers would be killed.

"Looks like they don't really cut corners here."

"Yeah, that sign must be sharp," Wendy chuckled, elbowing Mabel, who laughed at the joke as well. "You can climb fences, right?"

"I've got a better idea," Mabel said, pulling out her grappling hook. "GRAPPLING HOOK!" She cried out, shooting it at a branch above her

It managed to pull her up, but as she prepared to swing over, she heard a loud _crack_ break the air.

"Mabel, jump and roll!" Wendy cried out.

Mabel heeded the instruction just in time, though she didn't exactly stick the landing, tumbling face-first into the dirt.

"You good?" Wendy shouted from the other side of the fence, and Mabel lifted her hand in the 'ok' symbol.

"That was _awesome_!" An unfamiliar, masculine voice exclaimed.

She lifted herself off the ground, spitting out a bit of grass before looking up and seeing that she was surrounded by a gaggle of teens— Wendy's friends, more than likely.

"Hey guys!" Wendy exclaimed, hopping the fence, before helping Mabel up. "Mabel, these are my friends. Nate and Lee," She pointed to a lanky teen with long, blonde hair and a guy in a trucker cap.

In response to their names, Nate punched Lee in the gut. Lee grunted in pain at first, but ended up laughing.

"Tambri," She moved on to a girl with pink hair

Tambri lifted their hand in a half-hearted wave, giving an 'eh' of acknowledgement as they texted on a phone which, honestly, didn't really look like it could text.

"Thompson, who once ate a runover waffle for 50 cents…" She pointed to a chubby guy in a green jacket.

"Don't tell them that…" Thompson mumbled, looking down.

"And Robbie." She finished with the guy who's attire _screamed_ 'emo', with fingerless gloves (were their hands not cold?), a heart with a stitch through it on his jacket, and the most edgy hair part she'd ever seen in her life. "You can probably figure him out."

"Yeah, I'm the guy who spraypainted the tower." He flipped his hair, which Mabel, again, could only describe as _emo_.

"Oh! The big muffin?" Mabel asked, and a ripple of snickers ran through the group.

"Um, it's a giant _explosion_." Robbie growled.

"It does kind of look like a muffin," Lee chuckled, and the group laughed, multiple voicing agreement.

Robbie shot a baleful glare at Mabel as the others walked to the front door.

"What? It's true," She said, shrugging. Robbie scowled as she ran off to catch up with the group, before following begrudgingly.

Wendy tugged on the door, before sighing. "It must be locked. Anyone got any ideas?"

"I can try!" Mabel said enthusiastically.

"Yeah, we can't open it, but I bet the noodly sweater kid can," Robbie snarked.

"Robbie, leave her alone! She's just a kid." Wendy said, looking to Mabel.

"Sure I am," Mabel shrugged. "But I've got something you don't! A GRAPPLING HOOK!" She exclaimed, shooting it up at the top of the building. It pulled her upwards, and she heard the others gasp as she ran over to the vent, punching it.

"Hey! Mabel, take it easy!" Wendy shouted, though Mabel ignored her, busting down the grate and crawling into the vent.

With an 'oomph', she landed on the floor, before shaking her head and pulling herself up, running to the door and opening it, gesturing for the others to come inside.

The group chattered excitedly, running inside (except for Robbie, who was still being an angst-bucket).

"Good call inviting this little maniac!" Lee exclaimed.

Tambry didn't say anything, but she was smiling as she looked at her phone, so she was either looking at pictures of kittens or she was posting about it.

"Your new name is Dr. Fun Times," Lee said, pointing finger guns at her, which she gladly returned, smiling.

"Cool!" Thompson said.

Robbie didn't say anything as he walked inside, but Mabel could tell the emo was angry about something.

As Wendy walked inside, she gave Mabel a fistbump. "Nice work, dude."

Mabel grinned a little wider at the praise, before scrambling inside with the others.

"Do you guys really think this place is haunted?" Thompson asked as the door clicked shut behind them.

"Well, we're gonna find out." Wendy replied, grinning.

None of them noticed the 'open' sign beginning to spin wildly behind them, before landing on 'closed'.


End file.
